Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1887-11-03
rHg PARxERs ALLIANCE.
q se.,her~ I.sftsnstss .sdarfeS 20 fAs
Iy-s~ss asS .N'seSs OF Sesssfr"
<xrie~gfsre--Efs Scope, CHAR
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The following is conversation be-
tween q reporter of tho Tennessee
Farmer and n. II. Elliot, National
Lecturer:
q. .whon and whore did tho AL
lance originated"
A. alt originated in 1872, in Lam
pes.ss county, Texas, among farmers
aud stockmen for protection against
depredations of horse aud cattle
thieves and land swindlersf"
Q. "When did it begin to enlarge
the scope of its purposesf
A. ain 1875 it appeared in Parker
county, and vas then cultivatinS So
cial and charitable relations among
is members and also inagurating in a
small way crudo system Of selling
and buying together. 1t has grown
and spread and developed until now
we have l34 organized counties in our
State, with membership OF 25l 900,
and a State Alliance oficered and
fully equipped to manage the busi'
hes, and look after the Interests OF this
large body Of members
9. "To what do you ascribe the
rapid growth of your order in Texas'''
A. at is due to several causes, but
i. may he briefly stated, that the great
depression in agricultural interests
rho utter helplessncss Of the farmers
10 control the products Of their labor
tho general system of servile depend
ance which was gradually but surely
fastening itself upon. These crushing
evils were growing upon us aud excl
ted deep concern, il not alarm among
our thinking farmers, and they we're
anxiously looking for relief; 80, they
were not only ready, but anxious, to
adopt such measures Of relief rs arc
offered ny the Alliance; hence they
went into it by hundreds and thou
sunds."
Q. "Is your order, in any sense, u
political orgsniIatiouf"
A. "In PARTISAN sense, No. There
are impor tant reasons Why it cannot
be. The Alliance is of necessity a
secret order, and We know that party
politics introduced into secret busi-
ness organization would kill it, then
we could not belong to any order that
would require US TO keep our pol
itieal principles or action secret. OF
course we not only tolerate, but We
encourage and require our members to
study the science Of economic govern
msnt. 1t is business and not q pol
itieal organization"
Q. "You say it is Of necessity q So
riet order; will you please explain
whyr
A. "Simply to secure success. We
arc learning sonso lessons from other
interests and other classes. One Of
the most important lessons is, that to
succeed in any business, the plans and
methods to be employed in its prose-
cu,ions are not to be made public.
Merchants, banks, railroads, corpora
tions Of any kind 10 not throw open
their plans and purposes to the world,
if they did they would never succeed.
We, the farmers of the South. must
adopt the same wise precautions. We
are secret order simply because the
recognized successful systems of our
age udmonish us that 1t is the road to
success in all business enterprise. The
only secrets, am fee to say, that
we have, are our business plans and
some machinery by which We protect
ourselves against imposition"
Q. "Who are eligible to member
ship in yonr orderf"
A. al will quote the language Of our
Constitution on this subject" and he
read as follows Farmers, farm Ia
borers, mechanics, country physicians,
tnot engaged in the drug business)
and ministers Of tho gospel: All per-
roma becoming members must be OF
good moral character, believe in the
cxistnnce of o Supreme Being, be OF
industrious habits-must 10 q white